A present is brought to a party as a gesture of goodwill. It represents the invisible value of relationships between people. At the core of all my work is the fear that plagues many Millennials, the fear of missing out (on potential friends, on experiences). A party is celebration between friends of what we do have, of our time together. These paintings are an experiment with the radical gift economy, as outlined by Lewis Hyde in his book, “The Gift.” This means that none of these paintings are for sale, instead they are meant to be given away as gifts to strangers. According to Hyde, “When a part of the self is given away, community appears.” My hope is that this act will allow us, the artist and the viewer, to bypass the transactional, commercial nature of art and instead connect in a more personal way.